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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr. Christian Waldo" <chriswaldo2@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: <dr.christianwaldo@yahoo.fr>
Date: Sat, 26 May 2007 13:39:21 +0000
Subject: Your Kind Collaboration:



Your Kind Collaboration: Dear Friend, I am Dr. Christian Waldo, a credit officer in Continental Bank Cotonou Benin, and personal account manager to an expartriate who used to work with Benin Total Oil Company(B.T.O.C). On the 2nd of January 2005, I recieved a call that my client died in an auto crash along Cotonou/Parakou with his wife and two kids while on vacation at Benin Republic. Since then I have made several enquiries to locate any of my client's extended relatives. This has proved unsuccessful. I have contacted you to assist in repartriating the money left behind by my client before it gets confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank, especially now that we're approaching the end of the third quatre of this year. Particularly, the bank where the deceased had an account valued at $19,500,000.00 (Nineteen Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars). The bank has issued me a notice to provide the next-of-kin or have the account confiscated. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the biological relatives of my late client, I hereby seek your consent to present you to the bank as next-of-kin of the deceased since you are a foreigner, so that the proceeds of this account valued at US$19.5M can be transfered to you as inheritance and thereafter, you and me can share the money, 50% to me and 40% to you, while 10% for expenditures. I have original copy of Certificate of Deposit of the funds, which will be used to substantiate our inherittance claims. All I require is your consent and honest co-operation to enable us see the deal through. Furthermore, I guarantee that the transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. I humbly await your kind response to this e-mail as soon as you receive this mail fur further details. Thank you. Yours faithfully,Dr. Christian Waldo
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam